Fishbowl Complex
by Grendel226
Summary: Phantasy Star II - Neifirst's creation and life through her own eyes.


fishbowl -= Fishbowl Complex =-   
by Grendel226 a.k.a. Arren Dracone   
Phantasy Star II, Nei, and Neifirst are property of Sega of America and Sega of Japan. All rights reserved by their respective parties. 

They came again this morning. You have no idea how odd they looked so I'll try my best to describe it to   
you. The faces of the men stared at me through the glass, which distorted them initially. The rose colored   
embyonic fluid that I float in completed the job, warping their visages into wild and hysterical looking blobs   
with extended eyes and strangely rounded mouths. Now I know what a fish feels like – being gawked at   
by passing humans as it tries to exist in a habitat alien to its own with no attempt to make the artificial   
surroundings at all like its home. They stared at me for a prolonged period until one spoke, saying "Well   
Ryas, I suppose you were right. Your genetic splicing project is a success. It looks as if we may have a   
tangible life form by the end of the month." The man whom had been addressed nodded. "It's so   
amusing...it almost looks human, wouldn't you say so gentlemen?" A murmur of assent ran through the   
assembled crowd and pleased smiles and handshakes were exchanged. This is one of my earliest   
memories.   
  
The approach of these men became an anticipated occurrence in my every day life. Although being   
constrained in a capsule of embyonic fluid doesn't allow for much of an active social career. So I watched   
them with great interest. "It's definitely taken on a human shape," Ryas commented with intrigue. "Do you   
suppose we should remove it from the tube?" "Now really, do you think that would be wise, Ryas?"   
asked a rather stuffy old man whose name I had never heard. "Think of it would you really like something   
like THAT getting loose in the laboratory? Appalling really. Our funding would be cut for sure." With   
that he turned on his heel and flounced out. I can only call it flouncing because there was so much of the   
man that I can't describe him in any other way except waddling, which is hardly polite. "Don't take it on   
the chin Ryas," chirped a female understudy. "I think it's a marvelous project. It almost looks human."   
Ryas approached the tube I was floating in and smiled strangely. "Oh but it is Gen...it is. Look at her."   
"Her sir?" "Yes, yes of course Gen. Look at, well, her!" "I believe you're correct sir," Gen replied   
flushing slightly. Imagine her flushing! I was the one who's body they were staring at unabashedly. But at   
the time I had no concept of nudity and found no reason to be disgraced. So I merely turned my head   
towards them as I floated in my watery suspension. "Gen, look. I think she can hear us. I want to let her   
out." "But Ryas..er..sir...didn't you hear what Poltan said?" Ryas scowled, "Oh posh. I don't care about   
Poltan. His heart is in his wallet with his blasted meseta. I'm going to do it." With that he recklessly   
grabbed the handle holding the lid to my containment and pulled. There was a sudden sucking feeling and   
I went skittering out onto the cold floor of the biosystem's lab. The embyonic fluid slipped away into   
drains on the floor and I sat dripping and naked in front of the man who had evidently created me.   
  
"Hello," Ryas said quietly leaning down near my face, "I'm Ryas. Rhye-uhs" I didn't need the phonetic   
pronunciation but I smiled meekly none the less. I had the sudden urge to stand and greet this man   
properly but my legs accustomed only to floating rather than standing splayed out from under me in an   
uncomfortable and graceless display. The pair looked startled but I smiled dumbly up at them from the   
floor, unsure of what to say. "You need a name...something fitting." Ryas looked reflective and I stared   
back at him. "How about Neifirst?" Neifirst. It sounded like a name that would suit me. The human who   
was not human. But why the first? Why not just Nei? "Neifirst?" I repeated aloud letting it roll off my   
tongue. Ryas and Gen blinked in surprise. Forcing my legs to cooperate with the rest of me I edged my   
way into a standing position and repeated, "Ryas...Neifirst." It was the best I could do at introducing   
myself, though it felt inadequate at best and childish. The custom of shaking hands was completely foreign   
to me so I could think of no other way to greet the man who had given me life. Just then Poltan came   
trouncing back into the room. "Ryas I...good...Rya...WHAT is going on in here?" he roared staring at me   
with venom in his eyes and fear in his heart. "I let her out Poltan. She's fully cognizant! Look, tell Poltan   
what your name is." Taking staggering steps I made my way to Poltan and said, "Neifirst." The man   
looked shocked but the hatred in his gaze never ebbed. "Ryas! Recage your beast. I will speak to you in   
my office at once." Ryas gently took my arm and pulled me back towards my capsule. "Please...no.." I   
spoke in hesitating words, wanting to make sure that they came out properly. "It's all right," Ryas   
reassured me. "You won't be there for long. I'll come to you later."   
  
"Ryas never in the history of the Biosystems lab have I ever seen such insolence!" Poltan's veins were   
throbbing through his temples and plainly visible through my distorted glass world. I wondered at the fact   
that he didn't know I could hear him. However, Poltan had demonstrated his ignorance in ordering me   
'recaged.' Contempt was an emotion unfelt till now but it was beginning to stir in my breast. "You will   
keep your creation in her tube where she belongs." Ryas appeared crestfallen. I wished that I could   
comfort him in some way but I was helplessly floating in my tube again. Fresh embyonic fluid had been   
piped in which in itself was a relief as they had previously neglected to change it.   
  
Later that night Ryas came to see me again. As before he let me out but this time much less flamboyantly.   
This time he introduced me to the concept of shaking hands, which I was grateful for, now knowing how to   
adequately greet a person of import. He wrapped a cloak around my shoulders and I began a shaky   
conversation with him. Most of my words were accurate, and when I faltered he gently corrected me.   
Many nights such as this took place. He showed me the computer terminals where the functions of the lab   
were run and monitored. He taught me the basics of conversing and etiquette. Yet all this time he never   
spoke of my image. I could not fathom why but conceitedness was unheard of in my ears and therefore I   
had no reason to be self-conscious about my image. My knowledge expanded daily, and in time I learned   
that I was the product of a genetic experiment in which normal genes were ever so slightly altered to create   
a self-perpetuating organism.   
  
It was months since I first began conversing with Ryas. The lights in the lab were off and only a steady   
blue track lighting along the floor illuminated the room. Suddenly a light was shined directly into my eyes.   
Blinking repeatedly I saw a preposterously obtuse figure that I immediately recognized as Poltan coming to   
my tube. "Well, well, it's Ryas' spark of genius." He produced a vial of sickly looking green liquid and   
smiled inserting it into the injection slot for the embyonic fluid in my tube. A strange burning sensation   
overcame me and I twisted and writhed in my suspension. Emotions that I had never encountered I now   
grappled with: anger, fear, distrust, and unbidden angst. Chuckling, the detestable little man waddled   
away, as I seethed in my tube.   
  
Morning came. The lights were turned on in the lab, and the scientists and engineers shuffled in to work.   
I stared out, my eyes darting nervously, looking for the despicable creature that had made me suffer in the   
agony of the previous night. Ryas and Poltan entered together. A sneer crossed my face as I watched   
them approach. "Yes, Ryas after reconsideration I would very much like to see your, ahem, Neifirst   
creature freed." The embyonic fluid was drained and I stood before the two men, anger rising in the pit of   
my stomach. "Now, I know you are a clever little monster. Come to me." "Poltan, she's not a monster,   
her name is Neifirst." "Come to me monster girl. Just look at you...so hideous...what a beast." Things   
seemed to happen through a hazy film then. Or perhaps reason was clouded. I recall standing and staring   
Poltan full in the face. And then I remember speaking the words that would change my life. "I am NOT a   
monster." Poltan was taken aback and fear crossed Ryas' face. "Do you hear me you little...imbecile!" I   
cried using a word I had picked up from one of the sanitation engineers. "I am not a monster. I am not   
yours to toy with. Life is not something that you dawdle with for your pleasure!" Poltan shuddered, "The   
creature is clearly mad. Put it away put it away." Defiance had made me strong and my utter disgust for   
the man before me drove me onwards, "I am not a creature to be commanded. I am Neifirst. I am as   
human as you or Ryas or any other man here." The lab had fallen silent. The ever present clinking of test   
tubes had ceased. Even the whir of machinery seemed more stilled than usual. "You are not human, you   
are a mistake. Look for yourself!" With that Poltan seized a nearby test tube tray, scattering shards of   
glass everywhere. I didn't heed a few small slivers of it lodging themselves in my pale legs. Staring into   
the reflection on the tray I found why they called me monster. I saw white skin like the snow Ryas had   
described to me on native Dezolis. I saw long purple hair, streaming embyonic fluid down a slender   
frame. I saw pale eyes staring blankly, with no iris of color, merely white. And ears pointed ears like   
those of a beast. "Be reminded that it is you who created me. You have no right to call me monster when   
it was your folly in attempting to control nature that spawned me!" I hissed the words like steel being   
drawn at Poltan who stood with a triumphant smirk on his face. "You have toyed in a domain not your   
own!" I shrieked in anger, making a swipe at Poltan. Strong arms grabbed me and I felt myself being   
dragged away. "Contain the monster!" Poltan shouted. "Ryas, your project has been discontinued. This   
Neifirst creature is flawed. A mistake, plain and simple."   
  
Time passed so slowly for me after that day. The only eventful occurrence was when an engineer I had   
not seen before came and grafted a piece of skin from me. After that I was aware that the scientists had   
begun to gaze into a tube next to mine. During this time I could also feel a connection growing with my   
own mind. It was indescribable yet undeniably there. Some other creature shared my mind; and felt the   
hatred for these humans who had so selfishly played with life and cast aside a maimed subject like a child   
with a flawed toy. "We will call it Nei. Neifirst was merely a prototype. This is what we desired although   
the physical appearance is still not perfect. She shows no signs of aggression." At last one day I heard the   
rush of embyonic fluid being released from the tube adjacent to mine and I saw myself. No. A mirror of a   
mirror of myself. The creature that shared my mind: my fears, frustrations, and anger. I beheld Nei for the   
first time. A clone of me with minor physical imperfections corrected, save for the ears which were   
apparently a lost cause. She stared at me with a submissive shyness that I could not comprehend. Why   
did she not hate the humans as well? Could she not see what they were doing?   
  
It was ages until I was Ryas again. Half of forever you could say. He was sitting at a computer terminal   
near me, monitoring what had happened to me and how I fared. Unlike the others he took no interest in   
Nei and remained faithful to his original project. Looks of occasional concern crossed his face as he   
muttered, "How did she get the steroid? This isn't right at all. That's what was in use when we were   
working on the war drone project. Why does she have such high amounts of it in her blood? That much   
could be permanently dama?" He turned to look at me and I stared into his eyes. He knew what was to   
happen. He knew all too well. Without a word he rose from his console and left. I never saw him again.   
  
That night Poltan was in the laboratory with random scientists bustling in and out. As usual he came to   
gloat before my tube. "Have you seen your sister, monster? The one called Nei is much more feasible   
than you will ever be. As you were such a mistake I have decided to do you the favor of terminating your   
existence. Ryas has abandoned you I am sure you know." But I knew in my heart Ryas had not   
abandoned me. He had fled, and wisely. There was a rush and I was released from my captivity. "I am   
NOT a monster!" I cried savagely. I grabbed the closest thing to me I could find: a broken piece of metal   
sharpened at one end from some recent construction to level 8 of the lab. And I swiped. I made an   
unimpaired cut to Poltan's throat and watched as he lay seeping blood on the floor. Then I turned to Nei.   
Without a second thought I brought the steel bar crashing against the wall of her tube. Sliding deftly to the   
floor she fled as I cried after her, "Go! Run fool! You will never escape! You are part of me!" The other   
scientists had apparently run, their cowardice overcoming them. Stepping over Poltan to the computer   
console I flipped rapidly through the files that Ryas had read till I reached the steroid file. "Poltan you   
fool. You brought this on yourself...you..." 

Then I turned realizing what I had done. What had transpired this evening was the greatest event of   
hypocrisy in the history of Algo. I had killed a man to whom I had so ardently professed I was not a   
monster. Yet no greater act of monstrosity could ever be committed. Closing the perimeter doors I   
sagged to the floor and wept, knowing regret for the first time. I could not continue to kill. It was not my   
nature nor my design. Suddenly a virgin spark of brilliance entered my mind. I approached a nearby cage   
which appeared to hold common ants. Removing one of them I examined their genetic makeup the way I   
had seen Ryas do a thousand times at the terminal on the left hand side of the room. Carefully injecting   
them with the steroid I had received and a handy mixture of other chemicals I anxiously awaited the   
results...and within days the ant had doubled in size and carried the animosity of a creature who had been   
altered against its will. Settling myself comfortably at the main console my eyes scanned the power source   
from Mother Brain to our lab. And without a moment's hesitation I glanced at the tubes full of embyonic   
fluid, steroid, and my creatures who would assist me in avenging all of us. They had been so wronged   
before...what was to say now that this alteration would not be an improvement of life for them? Flawed   
logic would suggest that I was a hypocrite in what I did, yet the humans had already done their damage on   
these creatures. Now I would turn damage on damage, and wreak havoc on the bringers of chaos. My   
hand shaking momentarily, I entered a command to increase energy flow and shut down the backup   
generators. Power swelled within the turbines of the Biosystems lab and went surging outwards from the   
system. The track lighting shorted out, and gauges on the wall spun out of their casing. And in the tubes of   
fluid in which I had been created, new life spawned and altered for the purpose that it must serve.   
  
My army has multiplied by the thousands. I have experimented on over fifty two species now, and each   
has the aggression necessary to complete the task which I cannot do myself. These creatures were   
wronged as well in their captivity, and where there is only one of me there are many of them. Their   
reproduction is as that of normal animals, only these "Biomonsters" reproduce creatures also intent on   
destroying humans as their parents were. If this is the affect of the steroid then I have no reason to doubt   
that future generations will continue to destroy with the same contempt for humans. I expanded outward   
from the lab as it became too cramped and resituated my minions in the climate control center for   
Motavia. Here I sit in the center of Climatrol like an unholy queen on a misbegotten throne, waiting to   
wreak havoc. I have impaired the weather control systems and my minions of monsters continue to terrify   
the citizens of nearby towns. I can only hope that they have destroyed the scientists who so carelessly   
thought to destroy life that they had created and my 'sister' whom was flawed by the emotion of human   
kindness.   
  
She came today. I could sense her the moment she set foot in the building. My ears picked up the soft   
sound of her sandal covered feet padding to the center of my domain with her companions. She had   
destroyed my collective of biomonsters and now she and I stood face to face. Mirror images, one gazing   
into a pure pond, the other staring into a shattered looking glass. I vaguely heard her order me to stop   
making monsters. I saw her charge me, her steel bars raised to strike me down. I recall producing a laser   
bar I had stolen from the corpse of a human and making one vicious slash and seeing her lie dying on the   
floor, her life's blood slipping away, and I could feel myself begin to slip away too. The bond between us   
was stronger than I could have ever imagined. One being, one mind, one body. Her friends engage me   
now, swearing to their deities to avenge the fallen one called Nei. The humans whom I set out to destroy   
are now my ultimate destruction. This is the way of things. As Nei's companions cluster around her in her   
final moments, I lie perishing forgotten and considered an enemy on the cold floor of Climatrol. I feel the   
structure of the building begin to shake and hear the strange hiss of an escapipe being activated. I   
remained conscious as the explosions began around me, tearing conduits from the ceiling and rending the   
floor beneath me. As blackness began to slip over me I heard a deafening rush and felt myself being   
carried outward on embyonic fluid...no...water...water gushing from the uncontrolled Climatrol system. 


End file.
